YouTube to stop 30-second unskippable ads by 2018

While we’re all probably pleased that YouTube remains free for the most part, we do have to suffer through some of the video ads that are placed at the beginning or sometimes even in the middle of these videos. Even worse, there are some that are unstoppable and you have to watch them all the way through, if you really want to watch a certain video. Google has now announced that they were going to do away with the 30-second unskippable video ads really soon, much to our relief.

However, this will not be happening anytime soon as that specific format will stop by next year, 2018. And don’t think they’re doing away with those ads that don’t have the “Skip Ad” button. Instead, they’re looking at formats that will benefit both users and advertisers. So we’ll still be seeing 20-second and 15-second unskippable ads. But most likely, they will also be placing more of those six-second bumper ads that we’ve been seeing a lot of lately.

Advertisers will of course not be particularly happy, as the unskippable format basically gives them a reluctant but captured audience. But YouTube understands that a lot of their users aren’t pleased with these ads interrupting their video watching experience. The displeasure of their advertisers is a price that YouTube is willing to pay, especially now that the threat of Facebook and the social media giant’s focus on video, is very real.

The good news, well for advertisers at least, is that they will have to be more creative with the 6-second bumpers or to create slightly longer content that viewers will not mind watching all the way through. The 30-second unskippable ads will still be there until 2018 anyway.